Where do Scottish winter geese migrate from? (1 Viewer)

With all the bird flu media coverage, I have noticed some people see migrating geese and say Here comes the bird flu.

I was under the impression that the geese that fly through Caithness (North coast of Scotland) migrate from Iceland.
But others (non birders) are saying NO, our geese migrate from Russia.
As I am no expert, could anybody advise me as to where our geese do migrate from.

I understand that different species migrate from different places. The main 2 species we get are Pink feet and Greylags.
We also get white fronted geese as well but they are of the Greenland race so I think that one explains itself although I could be wrong.
Have also seen a few flocks of Barnacle geese and have been told of a handfull of Bean geese and 2 Canada geese.

Any info would be very much appreciated because if the geese are from Iceland I can confidently say, no that isnt bird flu I'll have you know.

I cant comment on the subject of bird flu as I dont know much about it, but it is starting to get on my nerves the way some people think they do know about it. When they obviously dont have a clue.


Cheers Kas :t:

Hi Kas,

As far as I can remember, the migratory populations of Greylag and Pinkfeet that winter in Scotland breed in Iceland, so it's certainly true that the large majority of Scotland's wintering geese migrate from Iceland. There are also two populations of Barnacle Geese that winter in Scotland; the breeding population from Svalbard in Arctic Norway which winters on the Solway Firth, and the Icelandic population that winters on Islay. There are also Greenland Whitefronts that winter on Islay, and a very small population of Bean Geese that winter in the central belt of Scotland, that I presume come from Northern Europe somewhere. Of course not all birds follow these directions exactly, and stragglers from any of these populations could turn-up almost anywhere, but I think that gives a reasonable overall picture.

Cheers,

Stuart

The Barnacle Geese that winter in Islay and the west of Scotland breed in east Greenland and migrate through Iceland. The Greenland Whitefronts breed in west Greenland but follow a similar migration route. The pale-bellied Brents that show up in small numbers during migration come from two populations: Svalbard (mainly those seen on the east coast migrating to Lindisfarne in Northumberland) and Greenland/ east Canada (mainly on the west coast migrating to Northern Ireland).

Thankyou very much guys :loveme: